Expecting
by LOTReader
Summary: AU: A recurring dream leaves both Draco and Ginny shaken. Is is "just" a dream... or something more?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This short story is set within the Alternate Universe I created several years ago within "Married to You?!", a fanfiction that I rashly deleted after some intense criticism from close friends. I've written this piece at the request of Fern Paquette, and it should be able to stand alone. I think only a couple preliminary givens are needed to understand this AU: Draco & Ginny were married in a Marriage Law enacted by the Ministry after the war. Also married in the law included Ron & Luna, Hermione & Charlie, Harry & Gabrielle Delacour, and my OC, Molly's younger sister Katharine (Kitty) & Severus Snape, who obviously survived Nagini's bite. Most of canon (with the exception of DH's epilogue & Snape's death) remains true in this universe.

If you recognize anything, I do not own it, as the HP world belongs to JKR. Happy reading!

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**_Expecting_**

_She should be crying. Why isn't she crying? Her face immobile, there was no trace of any reason why Ginny would feel such a conviction, but she knew without a doubt that the young woman calmly brushing her red tresses at the vanity had every reason to allow tears to fall in torrents._

_Ginny tried to reach out, but she could not. Heart breaking worse for the young woman who refused to be comforted, who refused to cry, Ginny drew her arms close to her chest. How could she be so cold hearted? Didn't she know that her stoic face twisted an even sharper dagger into Ginny's heart than any rush of tears?_

_A rush of tears like those coming from the next room. A blonde - oh, she looked so like Draco - her head cradled in her hands, a sharp contrast. Not just to the stone-faced redhead. To the beautiful, pure white dress that flattered her figure exquisitely. She should be happy. Another dagger twisted, this one into Ginny's gut. A wedding dress should not be accompanied by such grief. Her mother's heart should not mourn so keenly on this day._

_The blonde clutched at her - begged her. The redhead said nothing, but the depths of her eyes hinted. It was her fault. Ginny's. She could have prevented this. She needed to prevent this. She had to save them from this._

_But she didn't. The blonde married the boy. The redhead stood with her head high, her face an impenetrable mask. And Ginny stood with the man she loved while one daughter married the other's love, all hearts shattering._

"No!" Ginny sat up violently in bed, her heart racing. Eyes frantically searching, the contents of her room gradually sank into her awareness. The delicately wrought dressing table covered with her toiletries. Heavy drapes to keep the room free from any starlight that might disturb rest. Still shaking, Ginny tentatively pushed back the covers to climb out of bed. Maybe if she could wash away the memory of the dream, she would find sleep again.

Wringing the excess water from the wash cloth, Ginny heard her husband's approach.

"Did you have another dream?"

Ginny met his eyes in the mirror above the sink. If it had been any other dream, she would have smiled at his sleep-mused hair, a warm glow spreading at the thought that she was the only one he was ever so vulnerable with.

But it hadn't been any other dream. It was the same one. Again.

His forehead furrowed. "Ginny?"

"Do you think a glass of warmed milk would put me to sleep?"

"I think you need a draught of dreamless sleep and a visit to a healer." Draco's eyes were fully awake now that she had answered his question even as she avoided answering. "You've had that same dream for how long? Two years?"

"Only a year and a half or so," Ginny sighed. "It started when Lizzy was about six months old."

"And it's gotten worse with the baby coming," Draco turned her to face him. "This is the second time this month, Ginny. That's not natural."

"But... what if it's true?" She cradled her belly protectively. "Draco, we know she's a girl, what if the dream isn't just a dream?"

He tightened his grip on her upper arms reflexively. "We can't live like that, Ginny. We can't live in fear of a dream. We have to live now."

"What if I can do something now, but I'm not doing enough?" Ginny's voice cracked. "What if it comes true?"

Draco brought her head close to his chest as she began crying in earnest. He whispered soothing words into her ear, rubbing circles across her back. When the tears were finally spent, he spoke calm assurance. "Ginny, I want to go with you to see a healer about this. And unless they say something specifically against it, we are going on holiday. You've been working too hard and worrying about too much. It's not good for you or the baby."

Perhaps most telling of Ginny's exhaustion, she did not immediately contradict his suggestion. Searching his face, she asked the most heavy concern that weighed upon her heart. "Do you think I'm going mad?"

Draco smiled wryly. "Love, madness runs in my family, not yours. I don't think that's what your problem is. But for the record, even if you go mad, I'm not going anywhere."

Ginny sighed into him, content to be simply held. She hadn't ever asked him to sit up with her when the nightmares haunted, but he supported her through them all the same. "You know, I'm so glad I didn't marry Harry."

"And why are you thinking about Potter while in my arms?" he asked, amused.

"Not about Harry," Ginny placed a kiss on his cheek. "About how wonderful you are. And how glad I am that I didn't marry the boy I fancied as a ten year old."

Darkness flitted across his grey eyes. "If you'd married him, your life would have been much different."

Ginny snorted. "And I'd be pregnant with my third child instead of just my second. You know he wants an excessive amount of children."

The shadow did not entirely lift from Draco's eyes, even as a subtle smile crossed his mouth. "That's not all that I meant, Ginny."

"I just want you," she leaned heavily against his chest, soothed by the steady beat of his heart. "You are the one I want to go to bed with at night and wake up with in the morning."

"Even when it's waking from a nightmare at three?"

Ginny tightened her hold, hugging Draco's strong frame to her own. "Especially then."

Draco returned the embrace before gently guiding them back to their bedroom. As he recast the fading Sweet Dreams charm upon the bed, Ginny sighed into the comfort of the deep blue linens, so soft against her skin. Although a hint of anxiety remained at the prospect of returning into the dream, it was a fear kept at bay when Draco slipped his arms protectively around her.

Weary from the restlessness of the dream, her eyelids drooped even as she knew that Draco would not likely slip so easily into sleep. Instead, he was sure to lie awake until long after her breaths settled into the deep steadiness of a peaceful slumber.

"I still want you to see a healer," he whispered against her ear with a kiss. "I want better for you."

Humming contentedly, Ginny couldn't be sure if she spoke or merely thought her last words before sleep. _I already am better._


	2. Chapter 2

_**Expecting**_

The massive front door barely had a chance to open for its rightful Mistress before one thoroughly livid Ginevra Molly Malfoy strode through the front hall. Still giving order to House Elves, Draco fell a good ten paces behind his wife, despite her being pregnant and supposedly slower than usual.

"Ginny, slow down –"

"Don't you dare, Draco Lucius Malfoy!" Ginny pivoted to glare fiercely at him. "I swear, if you ever take me to another healer again, I will never speak to you again as long as I live. Do you hear me? Never!"

"Ginny," he tried placating, "you know that seeing Healer Croft about the baby –"

"Women have been giving birth all around the world without healers for _millennia._ So don't you think I won't."

"Ginny," he reached out, but she retreated out of arm's reach. "I know it wasn't all pleasant, but Healer Thomas made some good points. Maybe you do need counseling."

"Counseling," Ginny spat the words from her mouth contemptuously, "as if any counseling from the likes of him would help me at all."

Draco sighed, running his hand through his hair. "He was right about one thing."

"He was not! He has absolutely _no_ _idea_ what he was talking about! Me, having these dreams because I'm trapped in my marriage!" She snorted derisively. "Me, worried about failing to protect my daughters because Lucius slipped a horcrux into my caldron in first year! Healer Thomas didn't listen and that – that lower than dragon dung _cretin_ hasn't the slightest idea about reality!"

"You're saying that now, Ginny." Weary grey eyes met her own impassioned brown ones. "But what good has ever come from your connections with my family? My father nearly killed you when you were only eleven years old."

"What good?" Ginny cried, reaching out for his touch, "Draco, I have been happier these years I've been married to you than I ever remember being before! I love you, and Eliza Jane, and this new baby. The love I've found in our marriage far outweighs the bad of my first year at Hogwarts."

Ginny looked down at their interlocked fingers, grateful for the strength. She breathed deeply to calm herself before explaining. "I hated that he wouldn't listen to how you've been good for me. He wouldn't listen to anything beyond his own foolish prejudices of your once having a Dark Mark on your arm.

"But you're more than that. And because of that part of you, you can understand. So many people don't get it. Oh, they suffered during the war," she acknowledged with a shrug, "but they didn't ever know what he was like. How he threatened. How he could manipulate you."

Ginny traced the pale skin of Draco's left arm. The Mark was gone, but she knew it had been there long ago. Thoughts of what the dark wizard behind it had inflicted on them drew her voice to a whisper. "The others don't understand. They never saw him up close.

"Harry did, but even he doesn't understand." She swallowed thickly. "He was the Rescuer, sword in hand to slay the monster. He doesn't know what it was like to willingly place yourself under his control, only to realize in horror what you had done, much too late to get out."

Ginny sought his gaze, determined to make herself clear, beyond any shadow of doubt. "You know what that's like. Your past and mine are far more similar than we were taught."

"Are you sure? I was a Death Eater, Ginny, not just a kid trusting a diary."

"You were sixteen and told to kill your Headmaster. I was eleven and actually let a Basilisk free into the castle. It's a mercy there were only pertrifications and not deaths."

"Even so," Draco cradled her face in his hands, "I don't want to cause these nightmares. And if I'm the cause –"

Ginny laughed, the love for her husband swelling her heart. "Oh, Draco, how could you cause my nightmares? When you love me to the point that you would be willing to move heaven and earth for my happiness? When I love you so much! If the only complaint in my life is a bad dream, my life is so good."

"It doesn't feel like that when you wake up in a cold sweat."

"No," Ginny acknowledged before grinning, "but everything looks better in the light of day. In fact, I'm quite sure your life would improve its outlook if you'd just accept that I love you, the healer is wrong, and you should simply kiss me."

"Are you sure?"

"Mmm hmm," Ginny stood on tiptoe, a mere breath away from a kiss. "And I'm sure that would be the absolute best thing in the world for me as well."

Draco pulled back, much to his wife's frustration. "Are you saying that my concern is unjustified?"

Flat on her feet, Ginny studied his face, a face too calm to be entirely truthful. "You are such a Slytherin, you know. And for the life of me, I can't understand why you're insisting on it in this case."

When only his eyebrow raised in question, Ginny continued. "You're demanding that we follow your plan. You've convinced yourself that you're bad for me and now you're trying to use your cunning to prove it. Well, there's no getting rid of me, Draco. I'm here to stay. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I'd much prefer you being selfish than noble, if this is your idea of nobility."

A smirk finally graced Draco's handsome features. "Insisting on my own way?"

"Yes."

"And you prefer me being selfish?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I love _you_, selfish tendencies and all."

"And if my selfish tendencies happened to take us on holiday for a month?"

"Maybe a week."

"Three weeks."

Ginny crossed her arms. "Ten days."

"Two weeks," Draco bargained too easily for Ginny to believe he had really wanted an entire month. "Two weeks and I'll even do all the planning."

"You already have done all the planning," she pointed out, keeping a straight face only with difficulty.

"Yes," he guided her by her elbow to continue to the second floor of the Manor. "And it would be an incredible waste if you didn't allow us to make use of all my plans."

Ginny laughed in earnest. "Fine. So where are we going?"

"That," Draco smirked, "is my secret."


	3. Chapter 3

**_Expecting_**

As their departure time drew close, Ginny had yet to trick Draco into telling her where he planned to take them. The only detail he let slip was that Lizzy would enjoy the location, so if Ginny didn't mind traveling as a family instead of as a couple, they would bring their daughter with them rather than leaving her with one of their many Weasley relatives.

Although Draco had improved his relationships with her family by leaps and bounds since they married, Ginny still suspected that he had decided to bring Lizzy along at least partly from not trusting the likes of Ron and Luna with his eldest daughter for a full two weeks. Draco had reluctantly mentioned that Charlie and Hermione might watch Eliza Jane, but seemed vastly relieved when Ginny agreed to bring their toddler along with them.

"Ready to go?"

Ginny glanced up at her husband and daughter. "You would know better than me. You haven't even let me pack."

"No," He responded smugly, "that would spoil the surprise."

"If you say so."

"I do." Draco handed Lizzy over. "Now, just a minute while I adjust the blindfolds…"

"Blindfolds?" Ginny shook her head. "Really?"

"Secret, Ginny, secret," he reminded her, tying the soft bandana around her eyes. "I'll be Apparating us directly there, so don't let go."

She raised her eyebrow, even if it wasn't as noticeable as usual. "Have I ever?"

"Not yet," Draco folded both his wife and daughter into his embrace, counting down before the distinctive discomfort of Apparation took place. After giving her a moment to recover, Draco began leading her blindly.

"So where have you taken us?" Ginny resisted the strong temptation to remove the loosely tied blindfold. "Can I look, or is it still a secret?"

"Guess first," Draco teased, pulling her further along.

Hearing the swing of an opening door, Ginny felt the warm caress of a balmy breeze, a complete change from the snowy day in Wiltshire they had left behind.

Lizzy giggled and clapped her hands, squirming to be let down. "Your daughter seems to enjoy your choice," Ginny commented drily. "And if it looks as beautiful as the summery air feels, I'm sure I will, too."

"That's not a guess, Ginny."

"Alright then. Australia."

Draco laughed whole heartedly. "Is that the best you can do?"

"_Sydney_, Australia," Ginny amended.

"No," he answered smugly, before his hands took hold of their fidgeting toddler. "Here, give me Eliza. Kippy's giving me the evil eye at not allowing her to act as nursemaid."

"Of course she is," Ginny smirked, clearly seeing the elderly House Elf in her mind's eye. Kippy often treated Draco in such a way. Despite his current title of being the Master of the Malfoy Estates, Ginny was convinced that Kippy still saw him as a recalcitrant child. "She's the epitome of a perfect House Elf."

She could hear the amusement in Draco's voice. "How so?"

"She knows exactly how she should serve, much better than you do." Ginny's smile spread over her entire face, "but she's too loyal to ever actually directly contradict you."

"You do know that Kippy regularly chastises me."

"But never defies a direct order, even when she lets you know that she thinks you're an idiot."

"This is at least a time when I'm not an idiot," Draco slipped behind her to untie the loosely knotted blindfold. "_If_ I ever am one."

As the blindfold slipped from her eyes, Ginny was preparing a smart remark, but the vision before her completely stopped her thoughts in their tracks.

Squeezing her shoulders, Draco whispered into her ear. "Welcome to Malfoy Island."

Miles of unbroken ocean spread out in front of her, hemmed closest to her by a beautiful sandy beach, not ten feet away from the tiled terrace where they stood. Kippy watched over Eliza Jane as the redheaded toddler squished her fingers and toes into the sand; no one else appeared even remotely in sight. Palm trees waved over the white shore, adding a soothing accompaniment to the lapping of the gentle waves. The colors, so pure, so clear, so beautiful… so different from Wiltshire in December, but so wonderful.

"What do you think?"

Ginny swallowed before attempting a flirtatious tone. "It has a simply terrible name. All this beauty and a pretentious name like "Malfoy Island?" Someone obviously didn't spend much time thinking of a more appropriate name."

Draco smirked, not being fooled in the least. "What could possibly be more appropriate? It's an island and I own it."

"You don't actually own the island."

"No, you're right," Draco rested his hands on her hips. "We own the island."

"No way. We are going on three years of marriage and you've never mentioned owning an island before."

He shrugged. "It's a small property, only about a square mile or so. But it's part of the Malfoy Estate. Underused holiday house and overused retirement home for House Elves. Prepare yourself for positively epic service. They aren't as efficient or fast anymore, but if anything only more eager to please."

Ginny turned in his arms. "Thank you."

"For keeping the Elves here? It's just good business," Draco's eyes glinted mischievously as he continued to explain, "the climate's better for their health and they know too many secrets to be allowed clothes and dismissal."

"You are incorrigible!" Laughing, Ginny snuck her arms up to wind casually around his neck. "I meant for giving me this holiday. Here, where it can be just us for as long as we like."

"You mean, just us and a legion of ancient House Elves."

"Mmm hmmm." Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply. "It's already doing me a world of good."

"Good," He replied honestly, kissing her temple. "That was my plan."

"And it was a very good plan. Can we stay here forever?"

Draco's chest rumbled with laughter. "I thought you didn't want to be gone longer than two weeks. That we had to be back in England for sharing Christmas and Eliza Jane's birthday with family."

"There will be other Christmases. And other birthdays. Mum won't be too upset to miss Lizzy's second birthday." Despite the wondrous feeling of stresses slipping away, Ginny shrugged as a more honest admission surfaced. "At least not so much that she won't get over it in a year or ten."


	4. Chapter 4

**_Expecting _**

Ginny stretched lazily. Faintly remembering Draco saying something about going down to the beach with Lizzy, she parted the gauzy white bed hangings to finally get up for the day. After only a week on the island, she already felt a million times more refreshed than she had in recent memory.

Perhaps best of all, the dream had not disturbed her tropical slumber.

From the vantage point of the open balcony, Ginny watched as Draco built sandcastles with their daughter. A moat encircled the castle, filling with water as the waves lapped against the shore. Rocks and shells decorated the sides as Lizzy added pretties while Draco did his best to keep up with the structural integrity of the castle. With Eliza Jane deciding to smash the castle in delight in between her work of building it up, Draco was clearly fighting a losing battle.

Although no sound disrupted her watching, Ginny felt another's presence in her room. The weight of her worries crashed back upon her, her joy as fragile as a castle made of sand. "You disapprove of me, don't you?"

An overly polite sniff acknowledged the question framed as a statement. "It is not Kippy's place, Mistress."

Hand cradling her stomach, Ginny continued the conversation without turning to face her servant. "You think I worry for no reason. That I am disgraceful."

"Mistress worries for no reason." A heavy sigh accompanied the response, "but Mistress is not disgraceful."

The elderly House Elf joined Ginny on the balcony. "Mistress is being silly and granting silliness too much power. But Mistress has a good heart."

"I'm scared."

"Kippy knows," she patted Ginny's hand encouragingly. "But Mistress is scared because Mistress wants best for Missy Eliza and Missy Baby. Mistress should not be afraid, but heart is right."

"But Kippy, how can I know that? How can you say it?" Ginny stared out over the ocean, as if the answers to her questioning heart might somehow be found along the horizon. "How can I ignore the dream?"

"Mistress does not need to ignore it; Mistress needs to master it."

Ginny looked to the House Elf, confused.

"Mistress must not let the dream run her life," Kippy explained further. "Mistress is loving her daughters. Mistress is working on Marriage Law reforms. Mistress is preventing heartache as much as she can."

The little Elf grabbed both of Ginny's hands tightly. "Mistress must not allow the dream to consume her. Mistress must still laugh with Master. Mistress must still play with Missy Eliza. Mistress must still live now. Not live consumed. Do not do it, Mistress. Kippy could not stand it. Kippy could not stand another mistress fading. Mistress must live full."

Shocked by the tears spilling from the austere House Elf's eyes, Ginny awkwardly knelt in front of her. "Kippy, what is the matter? Why are you crying?"

"Kippy was so happy when Master brought Mistress home. Kippy saw a mistress with life as vibrant as Mistress's red hair. Master needed Mistress with spirit, not a pale, lifeless miss like Master had dated. Kippy saw Mistress and knew she was good for Master and good for all Malfoy Manor. Manor was still wounded from war, but Mistress made Master rebuild it. Made Master laugh. Manor had not heard laughter since Master Abraxas and Mistress Alcyone were young."

"But Kippy, why does this make you cry?"

"They all faded," the House Elf wailed. "Mistress Alcyone, Missy Leta, Mistress Narcissa. All consumed by dark thoughts. Mistress mustn't be like them. Mistress mustn't fade. Kippy could not stand another Mistress fading from life, not when Kippy has seen what life Mistress had. Mistress must fight. Must fight for Master. Fight for Missy Eliza and Missy Baby. Fight for Mistress."

Ginny held the sobbing House Elf, still numb in shock. But the raw emotion in her servant's pleas spoke strongly to her heart. The conviction in her words surprised her, but Ginny knew she meant every word.

"I will fight, Kippy. I will not fade, not if there is anything I can do about it," Ginny waited for the House Elf to meet her eyes. "I promise you."

When her tears had stilled, the House Elf hugged Ginny impulsively. "Mistress is good. Mistress has a heart of love. Mistress must remember what she has in truth."

Ginny gently hugged the typically stern House Elf in return. "Kippy, you are the best House Elf I could have. But is it time for you to serve here, on the island, rather than returning to the Manor?"

Kippy pulled away, horror struck. "Kippy is not _old!_ Malfoy Island is for old Elves. Kippy's mother serves on the Island. And even Flossy is young for Malfoy Island. Master only asked Flossy to serve on the Island because Flossy's years at the Manor were Dark Days and Master knew Flossy needed light."

"But, Kippy, you can't say that you're exactly young anymore. You were serving at the Manor when Draco's grandfather was born."

"Kippy is not even 150," the House Elf replied primly, "and Kippy is serving at the Manor many more years before Kippy is shipped off to the Island indefinitely. Kippy must be watching over the little missies. And Master and Mistress, too."

She shooed Ginny out of the room. "Mistress must go to Master and Missy Eliza. Kippy will take care of everything here."

Comforted by the House Elf's return to her habitual bossing, Ginny slowly walked through the airy passageways of the house down to the beach. She was glad to finally know that Kippy had been worried for her, not disgusted with her, but her comments had brought more questions than answers. Narcissa Malfoy had died shortly after the Second War and Alcyone Malfoy before that. Ginny had not even been aware of a Leta. And all three faded from life, consumed by darkness?

As much as she would like to deny it, a niggling suspicion that Draco knew much more than he was telling surfaced. Was there more to his recent concerns than mere guilt at past harm Malfoys had caused Weasleys?

One thing Ginny knew for certain, and two she could gamble anything on. Draco Malfoy was Slytherin, no matter how he much he changed or how deeply he loved her. He did not scare easily and he boasted great skill at Occlumency.

So what fear was Draco hiding from her?


	5. Chapter 5

**_Expecting_**

Questions suddenly sprung on Draco did not often yield the best results. A carefully plotted plan of attack produced better information. A tricky enough method to fool Draco into revealing more than he intended had not yet come to Ginny's mind. As their two weeks at Malfoy Island drew to a close, she found herself becoming very impatient.

Kippy had not babbled any further accounts of Alcyone, Leta, or Narcissa, the three Malfoy women who had apparently faded from life. Draco never volunteered information about his family, so his continued silence on the subject was to be expected. The ancient House Elves serving on the Island were eager to please in every way _but_ any questions about the three witches. If they did not fake deafness, they shivered before responding firmly that they _never_ spoke of Dark Days on the Island.

Dark Days – and Ginny could hear the capitalizations – were avoided at all costs. Given Malfoy family involvement in the recent wars, Ginny supposed that she should not have been surprised about their reticence, but that didn't make the lack of forthcoming information any less frustrating.

She had not dreamt the dream anymore, but Ginny wasn't sure if she liked the new alternative. Rather than the nightmarish vision of disastrous future for her daughters, she dwelt upon the past. How, exactly, had Alcyone and Narcissa Malfoy "faded?" And who was Missy Leta?

Becoming vastly impatient, Ginny chose to go ahead with a substandard plan rather than waiting for her brain to land upon an excellent one. It maybe wouldn't work. It might end up making Draco suspicious, resulting in information being even more tightly occluded from her search. But at least she would be doing _something_.

An opportune time finally arrived on their last lazy afternoon on the island. The entire family had come to enjoy the delights of the ocean once more before returning home to winter's cold again. Kippy did not like getting her feet wet in the actual surf, preferring to simply use her magic to bring the rambunctious nearly two year old Eliza Jane back to the water's edge whenever the young miss ever attempted to venture deeper than her knees. Lizzy, if her girlish giggles were any indicator, found the arrangement delightful as she splashed along the shore, then flew back to her faithful nanny, never far from safety when under the watchful eyes of Mum, Dad, and House Elf.

Ginny reclined luxuriously on the padded lounge chair beneath the sun umbrella near the shoreline, her heart happily distracted momentarily from her plan as she watched Kippy and Lizzy in amusement. Draco soon joined her under the sun umbrella, shaking the water from his platinum hair. "Eliza has to be getting tired soon. She'll certainly sleep well tonight."

Ginny laughed. "Has she worn you out? You must be getting old if a toddler has more energy for swimming than you do."

"I, of course, am too much a gentleman to point out that you have simply laid out in the sun, not having enough energy for any swimming at all this afternoon."

"I am growing a baby," Ginny smirked, "which is much more exhausting work than you'll ever know."

Draco kissed her before relaxing back in the lounger, now close enough to touch the other. "Of course, Ginny. That's why I wasn't going to comment."

She raised her eyebrows. "Not even to suggest any horrendous names to inflict upon our poor, unsuspecting daughter?"

"I don't suggest horrendous names; you want boring ones."

"Tell me with a straight face that a girl named Amphitrite or Mnemosyne could possibly survive in the twenty-first century without ridicule."

Draco's overly innocent smile spread across his features. "Amphitrite is a name of distinction, suitable for any Malfoy of any century. And Mnemosyne is a name that would never be forgotten."

"Ha ha," Ginny acknowledged his slightly clever response before continuing. "I suppose it will be Hecate and Nyx next. If we must pick a classical name, I'd much prefer Selene… or Leta."

Her husband stilled, his smile smoothing away into nothingness. "I would never suggest to name our baby Leta."

"Okay," Ginny shrugged, covertly waiting for any further reaction. "Then maybe Alcyone? I think I could live with that, especially since I know how much you loved your grandmother. If I didn't know that before I came, I certainly would now. I've talked with some of the House Elves and that's practically all that Flossy can ever talk about, how much –"

Draco's eyes shuttered into a flinty hardness with frightening speed. Ginny ceased speaking, not immediately recognizing the expression that had once been so constant on her husband's face.

"You've listened to the House Elves."

"Y-yes."

"And still you torment me."

"Torment?" Frantic, Ginny reached out to Draco, but he had already stood, tall and imposing, more frigid than she could ever remember him being.

"I never should have brought you here."

The deadened tones instantly turned all of Ginny's curiosity to regret. She didn't care anymore about these women from the past, not when her prying produced this result. "Draco, please –"

He strode angrily back to the Island House, never once hesitating. Never looking back.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Expecting_**

Winter in Wiltshire was cold, but the temperature outside the Manor did not even compare to the icy chasm between Draco and Ginny. And, as Ginny sat, staring vacantly into the steaming cup of tea her aunt had set in front of her, she tried to find the best way to answer the inevitable "how are you?" that Katharine Prewett Snape would ask.

Miserable. Heartbroken. Alone. Regretful – no, more than that. Mourning. There were no more tears, no words.

Worse of all, she feared that Draco would never forgive her. She hadn't known what she was talking about, but now, too late, she knew there must be a horrible reason why none of them ever spoke of the Dark Days.

"Are you going to tell me what happened, or should I get the Pensieve instead?"

Ginny sighed clear to her toes. "I don't think we'll all make it to Christmas."

Aunt Kitty sipped her tea calmly. "Why not?"

"Draco hates me. And probably with good reason," Ginny rubbed one hand protectively across her belly. "But I don't understand what I did. I mean, I know what I did, but I don't know why it's hurt him so much."

"What did you do?"

"I mentioned… I don't even know the significance of the name, just that Kippy said she'd faded and I'd never heard of her before. "Missy Leta," who apparently _torments_ my husband."

"Leta Malfoy is taboo."

Ginny looked up in surprise. Snape stood, arms crossed over his chest, as imposing in plain trousers and shirtsleeves as he had ever been in wizarding robes in the Dungeons of Hogwarts. Ginny still wasn't accustomed to having the man for an uncle.

"I… I beg your pardon."

"It isn't my pardon you should be begging," he responded drily. "I would guess that that superstitious boy never told you about his Auntie Leta."

"Really, Severus," Kitty chastised, "if you're going to explain, at least sit down with tea rather than looming darkly about."

He communicated his thoughts about _that_ with his eyes alone, but conceded to his wife's request. "I believe that Luna Weasley was in your year at school. In many respects, Leta Malfoy was a very similar individual. She saw things differently than others, often with uncomfortably insightful wisdom when you least expected it. Pureblooded to the core, but quite unlike most of them. Leta did not fit into her father's plan."

"Which was?"

"To marry her into another Ancient, Noble House. Lucius obediently married into the House of Black at his father's bidding, but Leta insisted that she was not destined to marry. Abraxas thought her rebellious, but Alcyone believed her visions were true."

Ginny stopped tracing the sides of her teacup, dread forming in her throat. "Visions?"

Snape nodded. "Visions. She claimed they were of things yet to come, if paths were not averted."

Her recurring dream, and Draco's hesitance to name it either dream or prophecy, fell into her knotting stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick."

He raised his eyebrow. "You haven't even heard why Draco would care."

"Severus," Kitty rested her hand on Ginny's upper arm, concern for her niece etching her face. "I don't think now is a good time. Perhaps if you could speak to your godson? Tell him that he needs to speak with his wife."

"No," Ginny shook her head resolutely. "I can't have you do that."

"But you'll have me tell you why he reacted as he did?" Snape clearly found a conflict of logic between her decisions.

"I…" she looked honestly into his black eyes. "I know that you care for him, as much as if he were your own son. How can I heal this?"

Ginny steadily held his gaze, tamping down her anxiety at the very real possibility that he would attempt Legilimency on her. But the flash of memories never came as Severus Snape stared unblinking.

"You must make him listen. And respect his boundaries if he refuses to tell you why he will not speak of his aunt."

Initially, her curiosity rebelled at willingly giving up on ever knowing why, but those feelings were quickly trampled. What knowledge was worth this heartache?

Would answers bring her husband back to her side? Would answers restore their relationship? Could the past possibly hope to heal the present?

If Draco wanted the past in the past, she would not insist on dredging it up again. If he would let her, she would live contentedly with him in the present. How many times had Draco told her so in those horrible first minutes after awaking in the night after a nightmare?

How she ached to live in the present with him. She would gladly forfeit details about the past if she could have Draco for the here and _now_.

Ginny nodded. "I'll do that. Thank you."

Flooing directly from the Snape house to Malfoy Manor, Ginny could feel tears welling as the enormity of what she faced loomed in front of her. What if Draco rejected her attempts at reconciliation?

She placed a hand firmly against her midsection to calm the frantic butterflies, a nervousness that would not produce any good for herself or the baby. "If he rejects once, I will ask twice. Or however many times I have to ask. I _will_ be more stubborn than him on this."

Ginny paused in front of his office door. How exactly should she begin? Her hand reached up to knock, in case Draco was conducting a business call over the Floo, but her hand stilled, wavering before she could rap upon the solid oak door. Maybe she should simply enter without asking. Given the current state of affairs, he might not answer if she requested entrance. Maybe asking for forgiveness would be better than asking for permission. But wasn't that sort of thinking precisely what landed her into this mess in the first place?

"Are you going in, or do you plan on just standing there all day?" Draco's voice drawled lazily from behind her.

"I…" Ginny turned to face her husband. His casual posture remained difficult to read. Was he truly relaxed, or simply distancing himself? "I thought you'd be working."

"I thought you'd be with Eliza Jane."

Ginny worried her wedding ring, twisting the delicate silver band with her right thumb. "We both thought wrong."

"So it would seem."

"Draco, I am sorry," she plunged in headlong, unable to keep the polite distance. "Please believe me; I have absolutely no idea why mentioning Leta or your grandmother would torment you. Kippy didn't explain, she just cried about how she didn't want me fading with the dream. I was curious, but I didn't know anything. I never, never meant to hurt you. Please –"

Draco pushed away from the wall, narrowing his eyes. "You've been at the Snapes'. Kitty wouldn't know anything, but Severus would."

"He told me Leta was your aunt, but nothing more," Ginny answered honestly. "And Draco, I don't need to know. I just want to live now with you again."

He ran his fingers through his longish hair. "Don't beg, Ginny. I'm not heartless." Draco sighed heavily. "Even though I give a good enough impression of it."

She wanted to rush in, to soothe away his admission with a quick denial, but Ginny bit her tongue. Draco wasn't fishing for compliments.

"I thought I would save them." Weariness echoed in his voice as it hung mournfully in the air. "I was given a choice and I chose wrong."

"What did you choose?" Ginny whispered, barely prompting.

"I chose who to trust." Draco laughed bitterly. "Of course I should trust my pureblooded father, not the half-blood godfather who merely strove to be the best. A Malfoy, _toujours pur, _would be the supreme model of ideal behavior."

He didn't meet her eyes as he continued, staring into past mistakes and paths foregone. "Severus told me to run from the Dark Lord, and that Dumbledore could place me in hiding, along with whoever from my family who would come with me. Lucius told me following the Dark Lord led to glory, honor, and the ensured safety of our family. My mother, my aunt… my grandmother.

"Aunt Leta was… odd, for as long as I knew her. The House Elves know more, but she thought herself to be a seer. Father and Grandfather didn't believe her, but Grandmother did. By the time I was old enough to know her well, she'd been worn down to only having a tenuous hold on reality." He smiled tightly. "I didn't have just one mad aunt in the family, even if Aunt Leta was a sight more pleasant to be around than Aunt Bella."

Ginny continued to listen, wanting to reach out in support, but recognizing that Draco needed to speak first.

His face hardened. "She began claiming that the fate of the family hinged on me. I made my choice, influenced strongly by wanting to protect her. How could someone like Leta survive in hiding, locked away even more than she was at the Manor? I thought that taking the Dark Mark would protect all of them.

"But when arrived home after the ceremony, already growing scared at the task the Dark Lord required of me and desperately trying to hide it, Leta shrieked like a banshee. Convinced that the family was doomed, she gave up all hope and wouldn't even look at me. She refused food, refused to speak, refused to leave her room. My grandmother did not react so violently, but her disappointment weighed far worse."

"Your grandmother didn't approve?"

Draco laughed. "How could she? She saw more Dark Days ahead, and she had already suffered too many when Grindelwald rose to power. But Grandmother was a very traditional pureblooded witch, so she followed Grandfather's lead, even if she didn't agree at all."

When he did not immediately continue, Ginny ventured forth a comment. "Draco, none of this sounds like torment. Terrible facts of the war –"

"They were both dead by Christmas," he responded succinctly. "I did it to protect them, but when I became a Death Eater I killed them as surely as if I'd cast the Killing Curse."

"But you were only sixteen!" Ginny reached out to comfort her husband. "You should not have been given such a burden and you cannot blame yourself! We were in the middle of a war, Draco. Any number of things could have killed them; it wasn't necessarily you."

"I hate the dream that you keep having," Draco continued without acknowledging her statement. "It reminds me too much of Leta's dreams. How Leta succumbed to her dreams."

"I haven't had the dream since before we left for the Island."

"But how long will that last?"

"I don't know," she answered truthfully, "but I know that I want you with me."

Draco finally met her eyes. "Even if I'm cursed to destroy everything around me? I killed them, what if I do the same to you?"

"We've been over this before," Ginny grasped his hands firmly in her own, "being married to you has brought good, not evil, into my life."

"Then we will face it together?"

Ginny affirmed the sentiment wholeheartedly as Draco moved to hug her tightly to himself. "Together."


	7. Epilogue

**_Expecting_**

Early April brought the birth of the second Malfoy daughter. While her body still remained a healthy pink, not yet settled into the paler skin tone of her other family members, there was no doubt about the color of her hair.

Draco cradled his daughter close to his chest, smoothing the fine tufts that wanted to stick up away from her head. "I was almost hoping for another redhead."

"Blondes are good-looking, too."

"I know," he smirked. "I'm one of them."

Returning his attention to the baby, Draco continued lowly. "I wanted her to not look like the girl in your dream."

Ginny squeezed his upper arm. "I haven't had the dream since February. It won't dictate Imelda's future."

"Imelda…" Draco tried out the feel of the name. "Imelda means –"

"Battle, yes, I know," Ginny interrupted before he could get off in a direction she did not intend. "Because we will fight for her. Because we will not give in to fears and superstitions about the future. Because she will be strong to demand a life that she loves."

He nodded. "To live in hope, not despair."

"That's perfect," Ginny breathed. "Imelda Hope."

As the baby stirred, Draco smiled. "It looks like our daughter agrees." After transferring Imelda carefully from his arms to Ginny's, Draco sought her face. "Are you ready for Eliza Jane to come meet her sister?"

"I'm tired, but there's nothing I'd love better. To have my entire family together."

Draco kissed her. "Then I'll bring her in for a short visit."

When her husband had left the room, Ginny focused on the baby, her second daughter. "I love you, Imelda Hope. I already love you so much, and so does your Daddy, and Lizzy as well."

Stroking soothing circles over Imelda's back, Ginny closed her eyes. "And I will do all I can for you. I will live with you now, cherishing these few short days when you're a precious baby. I won't live in fear of what may or may not come when you're grown."

The door opened, bringing Draco and Lizzy, who could barely hold her excitement in. As she held Imelda so that Lizzy could see her sister better, Ginny caught Draco's eye. He had heard her promise and agreed. There would doubtless be difficult times, times that stretched and tested them. But they would choose to stand, firmly planted in the present. They would not live in the fear of the future or the guilt of the past.

No matter what, they would wrestle through. Together.


End file.
